1900s
| Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century | |
| Decades: | |
| Years: | |
| Contents |
Events and Trends
Technology
- Lawrence Hargrave makes the first stable wing design for a heavier-than-air aircraft
- Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft
- Mass production of automobile
- Wide popularity of home phonograph
- Panama Canal is built by the United States
Science
- Planck's law of black body radiation
- Einstein's theory of special relativity
- Einstein explains Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect
War, peace and politics
- The New Imperialism
- Demand for Home Rule for Ireland
- Second Boer War ends
- British colonies in Australia federate, forming the Commonwealth of Australia
- Russo-Japanese War establishes Japan as a world power
- UK and France sign Entente Cordiale
Culture, religion
People
World Leaders
- Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
- Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Canada)
- Emperor Wilhelm II (Germany)
- King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
- Pope Leo XIII
- Pope Pius X
- Emperor Nicholas II (Russia)
- Queen Victoria (United Kingdom)
- King Edward VII (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Lord Salisbury (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (United Kingdom)
- President William McKinley (United States)
- President Theodore Roosevelt (United States)
Important Personalities
Entertainers
- Eugen d'Albert.
- Hugo Alfvén.
- Egbert Van Alstyne.
- Broncho Billy Anderson.
- Fatty Arbuckle.
- Kurt Atterberg.
- Béla Bartók.
- Nora Bayes.
- Irving Berlin.
- Francis Boggs.
- Frank Bridge.
- Alfred Bryan.
- Vincent P. Bryan.
- Ferruccio Busoni.
- Enrico Caruso.
- Gustave Charpentier.
- Thurland Chattaway.
- Francesco Cilea.
- Will D. Cobb.
- George M. Cohan.
- Bob Cole.
- Frederick Converse.
- Henry Creamer.
- Walford Davies.
- Peter Dawson.
- Claude Debussy.
- Frederick Delius.
- Paul Dresser.
- Antonin Dvorak.
- Gus Edwards.
- Edward Elgar.
- August Enna.
- Manuel de Falla.
- Geraldine Farrar.
- Fred Fisher.
- Paul Le Flem.
- Rudolf Friml.
- Julius Fucik.
- Amelita Galli-Curci.
- Mary Garden.
- Edward German.
- Alexander Glazunov.
- Emilio de Gogorza.
- Percy Grainger.
- Enrique Granados.
- D. W. Griffith.
- Guy d'Hardelot.
- Hamilton Harty.
- The Haydn Quartet.
- Anna Held.
- Victor Herbert.
- Max Hoffmann.
- Gustav Holst.
- Abe Holzmann.
- David Horsley.
- Mississippi John Hurt.
- Jenö Huszka.
- Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov.
- Carrie Jacobs-Bond.
- William Jerome.
- J. Rosamond Johnson.
- James Weldon Johnson.
- Scott Joplin.
- Gus Kahn.
- Jerome Kern.
- Rudyard Kipling.
- Carl Laemmle.
- Harry Lauder.
- Leadbelly.
- Franz Lehár.
- Ruggiero Leoncavallo.
- Paul Lincke.
- Gustav Mahler.
- Arthur Marshall.
- Jules Massenet.
- Nikolai Karlovich Medtner.
- Nellie Melba.
- Georges Méličs.
- Kerry Mills.
- Billy Murray.
- Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin.
- Carl Nielsen.
- Jack Norworth.
- Vitezslav Novák.
- Maude Nugent.
- Sidney Olcott.
- Charles Pathé.
- Edwin S. Porter.
- Giacomo Puccini.
- Sergei Rachmaninoff.
- Maurice Ravel.
- Ottorino Respighi.
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
- Landon Ronald.
- Paul Sarebresole.
- Arnold Schoenberg.
- Jean Schwartz.
- James Scott.
- Alexander Scriabin.
- William Selig.
- Chris Smith.
- Harry B. Smith.
- Ethel Smyth.
- John Philip Sousa.
- George K. Spoor.
- Charles Villiers Stanford.
- Andrew B. Sterling.
- Oscar Strauss.
- Richard Strauss.
- Igor Stravinsky.
- Leslie Stuart.
- Josef Suk.
- Sergei Taneyev.
- Albert Von Tilzer.
- Harry Von Tilzer.
- Tom Turpin.
- Edgar Varčse.
- Vesta Victoria.
- Anton Webern.
- Percy Wenrich.
- Bert Williams.
- Harry Williams.
- Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari.
- Amy Woodforde-Finden.
- Israel Zangwill.
- Charles A. Zimmerman.